Thanks. I don't know how many swords Lee owned.
I have no idea either, but here are some thoughts on the subject: As officers or officer cadets, nineteenth century military
gentlemen were expected to clothe, equip, and arm themselves NOT at government expense! That meant they were required to BUY all that stuff - that's why their pay was substantially higher than the notorious $13 a month for privates at the time of the war. Unfortunately for them this was also prior to the sensible adoption of the regulation
M.1902 Saber for All Officers which was used for
everybody regardless of rank or branch-of-service.
In Lee's particular case he would've
at least been required to have at one time or another:
as a West Point Cadet the sword for that;
as an officer of Engineers the distinctive and now very rare smallsword for that for dress purposes;
as a
mounted staff officer during the Mexican War the
M.1840 Saber for Officers of Light Artillery;
and as an officer of the 2d U.S. Cavalry, the
M.1840 Dragoon Officers' Saber
In addition, staff officers serving in combat situations such as Lee did in Mexico often added for their personal protection enlisted men's models of either
M.1840 Light Artillery or
Dragoon sabers so as to "save" their officers swords; these might have been "borrowed" from available stock-on-hand and not purchased.
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